The lowdown: This sequel’s main drawback is too many writers and too many ideas. The film plays like an overstuffed piñata with pieces flying every which way.

“Spider-Man 2” lacks focus. It can’t agree on whether it’s a love story about the challenges of being a superhero and having a girlfriend or a standard superhero vs. a cadre of crazed super-villains action feature.

Don’t miss: Hours of extras include deleted scenes, a look at the making of the film, a featurette on the make-up and effects that went into creating the villains, another on filming in New York, a look at the visual effects, a featurette on the score and soundtrack, a commentary track and a music video.

Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Fourth Season (Blu-ray + Ultraviolet)

Details: 2013-14, HBO Home Entertainment

Rated: TV-MA, nudity, sexual content, graphic violence, language

The lowdown: In season four, set in 1924, Nucky Thompson is lying low in Atlantic City, but new challenges again force him to fight to keep his empire intact.

One of the pleasures of season four is the performance of Jeffrey Wright as a Harlem power broker trying to muscle in on Nucky’s territory.

Don’t miss: A featurette that allows you to track each character in each episode, a look back at season three, a behind-the-scenes peek at the creation of the Onyx Club, a PaleyFest panel discussion with the show’s creators and writers, a look at finding the show’s locations, a profile of actor Jack Huston and his Richard Harrow, character, profiles of new characters and commentaries comprise the major extras.

Rosemary’s Baby (Blu-ray + Ultraviolet)

Details: 2014, Lionsgate

Rated: Not rated

The lowdown: This TV miniseries adaptation of Ira Levin’s novel, moves the story from New York to Paris, where Rosemary and her husband, Guy, are escaping a troubled past.

Guy and Rosemary get an offer to good to be true on an apartment at a prestigious address. But the price of the apartment turns into a horror for Rosemary.

The miniseries lacks the suspense and panache of Roman Polanski’s original film.

Don’t miss: Extras include a making of featurette and a look at the production design.

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down (Blu-ray + DVD)

Details: 1990, The Criterion Collection

Rated: NC-17, sexual content

The lowdown: Pedro Almodóvar’s dark comedy about Stockholm syndrome stars Antonio Banderas as an ex-mental patient who takes a B-movie and former porn star prisoner in the hopes of convincing her to marry him.

The film stirred a lot of controversy upon its initial release, but has gained an international reputation as one of Almodóvar’s best works.

Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include a documentary on the making of the movie, an interview with Almodóvar collaborator Michael Barker, a 2003 conversation between Almodóvar and Banderas, footage from the premiere party in Madrid and a booklet with essays about the movie.

Only Lovers Left Alive

Release date: Aug. 19

Details: 2013, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Rated: R, nudity, language

The lowdown: Writer-director Jim Jarmusch’s poetic love story about two highly-evolved and cultured vampires stars Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as Eve and Adam, who love music, literature and science.

They have tamed their desires to kill for food, but beneath, retain their wildness.

Their lives are upended by the arrival of Eve’s sister, Ava, played by Mia Wasikowska, who still has not learned to tame her killer instincts.

Don’t miss: A behind-the-scenes look at the film with Jarmusch, a music video and deleted and extended scenes comprise the major bonus features.

Californication: The Final Season

Release date: Aug. 5

Details: 2014, Showtime Entertainment-Paramount Home Entertainment

Rated: Not rated

The lowdown: David Duchovny stars in the final season of this Showtime series about a novelist who spends more time bedding women than writing.

The three-disc set features the series’ final 12 episodes as Duchovny’s Hank Moody continues his self-destructive ways as his never released film, “Santa Monica Cop,” becomes a TV series and he must learn to work and play nice with others.

Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include the first two episodes of “Penny Dreadful,” the first two episodes of “Ray Donovan” and the first two episodes of “The Affair.”

Additional extras are available through eBridge technology.

Y Tu Mamá También (Blu-ray + DVD)

Release date: Aug. 19

Details: 2001, The Criterion Collection

Rated: R, sexual content, language

The lowdown: Director Alfonso Cuarón’s raunchy road comedy centers on two Mexico City teens, played by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, who, after their girlfriends abandon them and fly to Italy, become involved with an alluring older Spanish woman they meet at a wedding.

She later agrees to accompany them to a faraway beach, where they form an intense and sensual relationship that leaves them physically and emotionally bare.

Don’t miss: Two featurettes on the making of the movie, an interview with a philosopher on the meaning of the film, deleted scenes, a 2001 behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the movie, a 2002 short film entitled “You Owe Me One” and a booklet with essays about the movie comprise the major bonus offerings.

Bitten: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)

Release date: Aug. 12

Details: 2014, E One Entertainment

Rated: Not rated

The lowdown: A supernatural SyFy series centering on the lone female werewolf in existence.

She is trying to live a normal life, until she is summed to the ancestral home of the werewolves where a series of murders threaten her entire clan.

Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include deleted, extended and alternate scenes, outtakes, a look at McAvoy in character, a behind-the-scenes featurette, a commentary track and an AXS TV featurette on the movie.

Fading Gigolo (Blu-ray)

Release date: Aug. 19

Details: 2014, Millennium Entertainment

Rated: R, sexual content, nudity, language

The lowdown: John Turturro wrote, directed and stars in this rather vulgar comedy about a Floravante (Turturro) who is talked into becoming a gigolo by his old friend, Murray (Woody Allen), as a way of making some much-needed cash.

The film is sort of a comic “Midnight Cowboy” for the AARP crowd. It features a high-octane cast including Sharon Stone, Live Schreiber and Sofia Vergara.

The lowdown: Glenn Ford is in the spotlight in this World War II action-comedy as a sergeant who, with his commanding officer killed, pretends to be a general in order to lead a counterattack as his men are surrounded by Germans.

His only problem is a former master sergeant who he helped bust to private; if he exposes Ford, the whole operation could be jeopardized.

The lowdown: A trio of films with a World War II backdrop comprises this set.

The featured films are “Attack!” (1956, not rated), starring Jack Palance, Eddie Albert and Lee Marvin. The story centers on a cowardly and inept captain (Albert) whose actions lead to friction and tragedy. Robert Aldrich directed the movie.

“Attack on the Iron Coast” (1968, G) stars Lloyd Bridges in a thriller about a team of commandos who plot to ram an explosive-laden ship into a Nazi stronghold.

“Beach Red” (1967, not rated) was directed by and stars Cornel Wilde in a drama about a battle for a Japanese-held island.

The film is best remembered for its bloody images, which was controversial for its time.

Technical aspects: Widescreen pictures; English Dolby digital audio.

Don’t miss: No extras.

Leviathan (Blu-ray)

Release date: Aug. 19

Details: 1989, Scream-Shout! Factory

Rated: R, violence, language

The lowdown: A horror-suspense feature about a deep-sea crew that discovers a sunken freighter that holds an experiment that went horribly wrong.

A storm forces the crew to take shelter in the freighter, thus beginning a battle for survival against a monster that’s only objective is killing.

The movie features wonderful special creature effects by the legendary Stan Winston.

Don’t miss: Extras include a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie, a behind-the-scenes look at a helicopter sequence, a profile of the director an AXS TV episode about the film and a commentary track.

Other Blu-rays and DVDs being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:

Bob Bloom is the film critic and Blu-ray/DVD reviewer at the Journal & Courier, and a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. He also reviews Blu-rays and DVDs for Gannett. He can be reached by email at bbloom@jconline.com. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal & Courier website: www.jconline.com

You also can follow Bloom on Twitter @bobbloomjc.

Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes website: www.rottentomatoes.com.